Month: April 2018

“Made For Green”

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My Project 392-001

 

I love this time of the year when the trees are finally in full bloom.  Ahhh…, finally!  The green branches, with their beautiful blooms, sway in the breeze and they speak to my heart, “I was made for green.”

I feel renewed with the turning of the season.  There is a sense of this is how it was supposed to be.  The trees were made for green and so were we.  I could be wrong but when God placed man in the Garden of Eden I don’t think there were any winters or bad weather there (just my opinion, but check out Adam and Eve’s clothing attire, or lack thereof).  I don’t think the trees were to ever be bare.  I don’t think the branches were to ever cease having fruit sprout from them.  I think paradise was just that, a never-ending green that sings to the symphony of one’s heart that they are where God placed them.

There’s a lot of ugliness we see in this world.  Once, it was not so.  Our original design was not to live in an environment of sin and decay.  It was not designed to exist with dead and dreary things.  It was designed to behold the beauty of God through His creation.  We were designed to live in God’s best!  We were made for so much more!

In this life, we have to deal with what the world has become now.  But, oh, that day is coming where we shall once again know the pleasures of paradise.  Where we once again will enjoy the best of God’s design.  I personally can’t wait because I was made for green 🙂

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People are Precious | Word For Life Says Poetry

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No matter who they are

No matter the clothes they wear

No matter their lifestyle

No matter the style of their hair

People are precious

 

Whether they dwell in your house

Or you meet them on the street

Whether you pass by them in the car

Or, on the corner is their beat

People are precious

 

Whether they are cutting the lawn

Or sewing up scars

Whether they are behind the desk

Or living paycheck to paycheck

People are precious

 

No matter who you are

No matter who you greet

Inside each living being is a soul

Inside each, a heartbeat

 

Take care to love them all

And treat them with respect

Every man, woman, and child

From every nation, tongue, and dialect

 

Not one of us is perfect

We all make mistakes

Precious people see that people are precious

And extend His loving grace

“For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” 1 John 3:11

Copyright © Word For Life Says.com (Sharing any posts or lessons can only be done through the share buttons provided on this site from the original posts, lessons, and articles only. You can reblog from the original posts only using the reblog button provided, or share using the share buttons provided from these social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, etc., and they must be shared from the original posts only. All other repostings are prohibited. Posts and other items of interest found on this site MAY NOT BE COPIED AND PASTED, downloaded, uploaded, etc to another website or entity not listed (physical or electronic).  See COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details.

“Jesus Didn’t Let Discouragement Win!”

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“Jesus never fails,” is something I have heard quoted many times over in church.  There is no greater truth for the Christian to hold on to for in it we find consolation for our souls.  Coming across this passage in my Bible, this particular verse wouldn’t let me go.  It held on and refused me the opportunity to pass it by, demanding that more attention be paid to it.  It says, “He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth,” (Isaiah 42:4).

Knowing the power of our Lord, of course I know He never fails.  As a matter of fact, it is something you and I count on daily.  The part that really jumped out at me was that He does not get “discouraged.”  That is something that this flesh of mine CANNOT boast about.

We are easily swayed this way and that with the moving of our circumstances and our emotions and just plain old life itself.  But, Jesus never let anything sway Him.  He never let anything drag Him off course from where God wanted Him to be.  As a matter of fact, He repeatedly let us know “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me,” (John 6:38).  Discouragement didn’t stand a chance against the will of God planted so deeply in Him.

Let’s really think about this because if anybody had a reason to be discouraged, Jesus did.  Think of His walking up and down the shores of Galilee, some followed Him just for miracles and some for ridicule, purposed to find fault in Him.  Think about the many times He performed a miracle for others and yet when it came the time that He would need people the most, “they all forsook him, and fled,” (Mt. 14:50).  If it were me I would have felt so used but Jesus’ response was “but the scriptures must be fulfilled,” (Matt. 14:49).  God’s will was still prominent over His emotions.  Yes, He got upset sometimes.  Remember when He overthrew the tables, (Mt. 21:12)?  But, He never let discouragement win!  He never let discouragement take Him off course!  He never let discouragement gain the upper hand.  Wow!

Jesus had every right to be discouraged with the way things were but He did not give it the opportunity. Discouragement is a pit.  The more you swim in it the deeper it takes you under.  The fact is we do what Jesus didn’t do, we give it the opportunity.  Jesus let nothing frustrate Him from doing what He had to do.  What about us?  How often have we or do we swim in that pit of discouragement only to wonder why we can’t get anything done around here?

There are going to be upsetting times in everyone’s life and I will never downplay those.  Even Ecclesiastes tells us, “To everything there is a season,” (Ecc. 3:1).  But, if we find ourselves dipping too often in the pool of despair then we have to wonder why do we keep giving it the opportunity to control our lives?  Why do we keep giving it a place of position instead of responding like Jesus did?

Sometimes it does get hard but I believe we have to make a conscious decision to respond the way Jesus did and to not let it frustrate us from everything that God has for us and wants us to do.

Copyright © Word For Life Says.com (Sharing any posts or lessons can only be done through the share buttons provided on this site from the original posts, lessons, and articles only. You can reblog from the original posts only using the reblog button provided, or share using the share buttons provided from these social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, etc., and they must be shared from the original posts only. All other repostings are prohibited. Posts and other items of interest found on this site MAY NOT BE COPIED AND PASTED, downloaded, uploaded, etc to another website or entity not listed (physical or electronic).  See COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details. 

God Has a Better Plan | The Place of Your Own Blessings

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How often in our lives do we spend extra time and energies wasted by digging around in the wrong stuff?  With seemingly very little direction many wander from one avenue of life to another.  It’s time for God’s people to settle in a place of their own.  God has a blessing in store for His people, but they have to dig where He is leading them.  They have to find their own well where God can enlarge their territory.

Due to a famine in the land, God instructed Isaac to not go to Egypt but to stay where He tells him (Gen. 26:2); “in this land,” (Gen. 26:3) where the blessings were promised through Abraham.  But, the blessings of the Lord upon him caused the people to not want him in that particular region of the land any longer (Gen. 26:12-16).

Issac knew the disappointment of searching for something in life and not have it to pan out the way he envisioned. After the people of the nation wanted him to depart from them he went back to the old wells his father previously dug and tried to set up shop there.  He even ventured into trying to dig new wells, but no matter what he did he was met with quarrelsome people who didn’t want him there and they made no bones about it.  They fought and disagreed over property rights until the pressure mounted for Isaac that he moved away from that particular area, although he was still in the land God instructed him.

Venturing to remove himself from the people and their contentious attitudes, Isaac finally came to a place where he was able to dig a well without digging for problems.  He was finally in a place where he could enjoy the blessings of the Lord with peace and prosperity.

Through it all, God had a better plan for him.  God will sometimes prohibit us from settling in the familiar (he wanted to dwell at Abraham’s old wells) because He has a new place for you to go to unearth your own blessings, to dig your own wells, to dream your own dreams, to renew a covenant relationship with you personally.  Only when we become invested in God on our own will we be able to see God work in our lives as He did for those who came before us. It wasn’t enough for Isaac to lean on what his father Abraham previously accomplished.  God had a better plan for Isaac and Isaac had to learn to trust God and have faith on his own.  He was still under the same covenant as Abraham who was promised to inherit the land, but God was going to bless Isaac in His own way in that land.

Why go through all of this trouble, you may ask?  Because, as hinted at before, one’s faith has to be in God for themselves.  We will never know what God can do for us and through us if we never allow ourselves to experience a time of dependency on Him.  It is alright for Isaac to hold on to the blessings God promised to Abraham (because those blessings were still very valid for him), but he also needed to know God in an individual, relational way to be a carrier of this covenant.  He needed to know it is not what his father previously dug that will give him a place in the land, but it is the God who his father served and had faith in, He is the one that will make room for him there, thereby upholding what He previously promised to his father.  The promise may have been initiated on Abraham’s faith, but Isaac had to recognize the sovereignty of God’s hand and plan in it all as well, and that in the end, anything he had or accomplished will be because of the LORD who gave him his own blessing under that same covenant promise.  And, when God blesses, He makes it fruitful and abounding.  He will give room for expansion and growth.

Sometimes when we venture out into new territory and we hit up against fighting and disagreements, it could be because God doesn’t want us to settle in that particular area.  We may be still in the land that was promised, but some areas are not going to foster our growth the way God wants us to grow.  Some places of familiarity will actually hinder our spiritual progress rather than nurture it.  In some places, there may be people or situations God doesn’t want us to be around because they just always look to start trouble.  Isaac only found peace and knew he had come to the point of his own place of being blessed when he realized it was God who led him there and opened up the opportunity for space there.  “And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, ‘For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land,'” (Gen. 26:22; NKJV).

All contentions we face and all disagreements we face aren’t bad.  They can actually be a propelling place to get us moving and stop settling where God doesn’t see us growing.  If God has a better plan for you, He will put you in a place where you can stretch out beyond your wildest dreams; where you can go beyond what you previously thought you could.  He will put you in a place where you can dig your own wells, unearth your own blessings, and prosper in Him.  He told Isaac, ‘”I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you.  I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.” So he built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD, he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well,’ (Gen. 26:24-26; NKJV).  After God spoke to him he knew he was where God wanted him to be; he knew he had arrived at the place of his own blessings.

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“We are created to have DOMINION!”

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We didn’t have to make it this far, but we did. It is by the victories the Lord has won in our lives that we are here today. He has blessed us and anointed us and gave us the power. We are to be a people that are strong and take action (Dan. 11:32)! We are a people created to have dominion (Gen. 1:28)! We are victorious! Claim it for your life today and shout AMEN!

“Dream Big!”

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“And Joseph dreamed a dream . . .” Genesis 37:5

There I am, floating like a ballerina in mid-air. Or, I’m running in the woods. Sometimes I am facing dinosaurs. Or, I am defeating a foe. And yes, the ultimate, most embarrassing of them all, standing in front of the classroom not dressed up to par. These are some of the dreams I have dreamt over the years. (The ballerina one was sedation-induced for dental procedures when I was a kid, but it was a dream nonetheless.) I am glad that most of these weird visions of the mind have not come true. Let’s face it; I really don’t have the stamina to outrun a great T-Rex, chasing me up and down the steps of my house after ripping the roof off. No thank you!

I have had some strange ones as I am sure you have, too. Thankfully for Joseph, his dream was encouraging. His dream pronounced blessings over his life. It told of promotion and advancement. But, what his dream didn’t tell was the betrayal he would experience. It didn’t tell of the hardships of being ripped away from his family. And, it most certainly didn’t clue him in on feeling like an outsider. His dream did not reveal that though he was faithful in his life, things still weren’t always going to go his way.

Dreams, whether visions in a sleeping head or goals and aspirations in life have a funny way of doing that. They show you the “what-could-be” without revealing the obstacles that may arise, blocking you from getting to that point. Dreams give you glimpses of “something more” but rarely reveals the work it takes to get there.

Life can get pretty yucky sometimes – and, I do mean pretty yucky. Schedules, people, thoughts, and messes get in the way of those aspirations we have. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try we feel like we are really going up a river without a paddle. It’s not only hard but seems nearly impossible!

But, I say to you today, “Dream Big Anyhow!” It’s not over until it’s over! Is it a cliché? Yup, but it’s true! Until they say, “Ashes to ashes and dust to dust,” you are still in the running to see great things come to pass. Why sit on the sidelines and watch? It is time to be a participator! You have to be your own dream’s advocate! You have to stand for where you believe God is leading you!

Who do you think gave Joseph his dreams? When the children of Israel kept trying to get to their land of promise, who led them there? God did! God wants His people happy and successful. He wants to see them blossom and flourish in all the abilities that He has sown in their lives. He wants them to Dream Big!

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me!” (Philippians 4:13, KJV).

Copyright © Word For Life Says.com (Sharing any posts or lessons can only be done through the share buttons provided on this site from the original posts, lessons, and articles only. You can reblog from the original posts only using the reblog button provided, or share using the share buttons provided from these social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, etc., and they must be shared from the original posts only. All other repostings are prohibited. Posts and other items of interest found on this site MAY NOT BE COPIED AND PASTED, downloaded, uploaded, etc to another website or entity not listed (physical or electronic).  See COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details.

“But there is a God in heaven . . .”

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Daniel stood before king Nebuchadnezzar and declared the truth that the king and many others in this world fail to acknowledge: “There is a God in heaven,” (Daniel 2:28).  Although Nebuchadnezzar was searching for an interpretation of a dream, he should have been searching his heart.

Our God is Creator.  Our God is Sovereign over all.  He sits higher in His realm than any king or dignitary on earth.  And He looks low to the smallest of us all to personally see about us and tend to our care.  He knows who is for Him and who is against Him.  He knows the one whose heart is filled with faith and the one who shuns His grace.

He is the very God that called everything into existence, speaking over them and they came to being (Isaiah 48:13; Romans 4:17).  He is the very God that raises up and puts down (Psalms 75:7).  “He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes kings . . .” (Daniel 2:21, HCSB).

Oh yes, there is a God in heaven . . .

Whether you believe or don’t believe, it doesn’t change the very real fact that He is real.  That He reigns and rules.  He is the one who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand and marks off the measurements of heaven using His hand.  He only is the one who can gather the dust of the earth and tell you how much there is, and He can weigh or hang the mountains in His heavenly scales and tell you the balance thereof (Isaiah 40:12).

Oh yes, there is a God in heaven . . .

He does great things in the world, yet He knows every detail of my life.  He has the hairs of my own head numbered (Matthew 10:30).  He calls me out personally by name (John 10:3).  From before my beginning to my very end, He knows all about me (Psalms 139).  The mighty God in heaven is thinking about me out of all the people in the world (Psalms 139:17-18).

He’s there in heaven.  He’s here in my heart.

Oh, that the Nebuchadnezzar’s of the world would search for Him personally.  Oh, that man would open his spiritual eyes and see the truth before him: There is a God in heaven!  There are many false ways that try to deny that very fact (2 Peter 2), but it doesn’t change the reality of it all.  God is real!  God rules!  And, God has the final say!

There is a God in heaven!

 

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